Philadelphia Flyers: Second round series begins tonight
After a few days to celebrate, the Flyers are back at it to begin their second round series.
With two days passing since their clinching victory over the Canadiens, the Flyers are second to begin their series against the Islanders. As they did in the opening round, Philadelphia will be the designated home team for the first two games of the series.
It will give Alain Vigneault the perfect chance to get the matchups he wants on the ice. And while Mathew Barzal is always dangerous, it’s the Islanders second line that has been producing in the playoffs.
Josh Bailey leads the squad with 10 points and has six points in his last five games. His line mate in Anthony Beauvillier has three goals in the last five games. Not to mention Brock Nelson has posted seven points overall.
So they will be a key line for the Flyers to find the right matchup for. While they seemed to match up the Nate Thompson line against Montreal’s best, that’s playing with fire if the team continues to rely on that.
The Flyers could decide to use Sean Couturier to shut those players down. But he may also have his hands full against Barzal. Nevertheless, the Islanders likely won’t miss on some of the chances that Montreal did. They have a lot more top end talent and some of that spread across the board as well.
The goaltending matchup will be a big different as they’ll be taking on Semyon Varlamov in this round. Obvious is obvious, but he is no Carey Price. He did post a better goals against average, but was below him in save percentage.
The Flyers scored three goals in all of their games against the Islanders this season. Varlamov was in net for two of those games. On the flip side, Carter Hart was pulled in his only game against the Isles this season. He let in five goals on 19 shots. That was just over a period’s worth of work.
He may not keep a long memory of that, but no doubt Hart could be seeking some kind of revenge in the back of his mind. The focus will be on stopping the Islanders abundance of talent on the front end. They are able to get contributions from their defense as well.
The Flyers will continue looking to Jakub Voracek to steer the ship. He was red-hot against the Canadiens and will hopefully help his line mates do the same. Though Claude Giroux was dropped down in the lineup. Moving him back to center does balance the lines more. However, it doesn’t give him the same kind of elite teammates as he’s used to.
It could be the kind of kick he needs to start finding the back of the net. It’s clear his confidence wasn’t also there during the first round. Of course, we will likely continue to be in the dark about Vigneault’s lineup choices.
That will include another decision including the defense. Matt Niskanen will return after a one game suspension. That means another player has to come out of the lineup.
That’s why Vigneault makes the big bucks, as he previously said. We’ll find out soon enough what lineup the Flyers toss out for their opening against against the Islanders.